Welcome to Parent Tips

Licence Plate Countdown

This game requires that each player spot numbers on licence plates from one to nine. As each number is called out, everyone looks for the next number. Only one number can be taken from each plate. The first to reach the number 9 wins. This game can also be played looking for letters "A to Z".

Purse Game

This is a way to help small children learn to classify objects. Empty your purse or wallet. After they have looked over the objects, ask them if they can tell you what all of them are and if they can see a way to put things together by size or shape or color, what they are made of or how they sound, etc.

Postcards Home

To keep your family vacation memories alive after you return home, bring along a supply of stamps so you can send yourselves postcards from stops along the way. This is also a great reading and writing activity for the kids. Write down a favorite memory from that day or stop, and drop it in the mail. The postcard will provide a photo, and your message a memory. Once you have received all of your postcards, assemble them into an album. Use a sleeve album so that you can see both sides of the cards when viewing.

Leave a Light On

When traveling, be sure to throw a night light into your suitcase. If your kids happen to wake up in a strange room, they will be less frightened since there will be less scary shadows. It will also be easier for you to get around in a strange room without waking up the kids.

Travel Pastime

For plane or car travel, bring along peel-and-stick removable window decals. They help keep kids entertained for hours because they can create new scenes again and again.

Map Game

Using the map that routes your trip, make a short list of places that are shown on the route. Give a copy of the map to the kids and challenge them to find the various locations as you pass them. Ask questions like "What city are we near?" or ask them to plot a route between two cities that you name. This activity also develops children´s knowledge of geography.

Alphabet Games

Pass the time by playing this simple game. Begin by saying "Mummy went to the store to buy groceries and first bought APPLES". Then ask the first child to think of the next item on the shopping list beginning with B, such as BREAD. The next child thinks of something beginning with C, and so on. This also encourages creativity and development of vocabulary skills.

Crazy Car Plates

In this game, a child can make up phrases using the letters he or she spots on a license plate. For example, a car ahead reads VFT 456. The players call out "Very fat tiger" or "Valentine for teacher". Then on to the next plate. This game also encourages creativity.

Cool Drink on a Hot Day

If traveling in the summer, try packing frozen drinking boxes. They will serve as an ice pack for other food, and will be cool and refreshing when the need arises.

Mini-Navigators

Photocopy and enlarge the portion of a map with the highways you will be travelling, then highlight your route with a marker. Glue the map to a piece of cardboard and cover it with contact paper. Your kids will love tracking your progress.

The Personal Bag

On long journeys, give each child his or her own small trip bag, with their names printed on it. Each bag should be pre-packed with a list of games to play, new surprises and a favorite toy. This will give each child a promise of fun on the trip to come.

Travel Souvenirs

Have your kids keep a scrapbook of your trip. Help them collect things during the day to put in the scrapbook each night: travel brochures, postcards, a free kids´ menu, an interesting placemat from a restaurant, or a pretty leaf from a tree where you stopped to picnic. Label and make notes about the items you collect. This makes a wonderful souvenir at the end of your trip!

Make a List

Before leaving home, make a list of things you might see. When you spot them during your travels, check them off the list. When you reach your destination, count how many things you found. Make a new list of things for the trip home.

Make Rest Stops Count

When traveling with kids be sure to pack items like a Frisbee, Koosh, jump rope, or ball for activities at rest stops. Bring chalk along to make a hopscotch board, and after a little activity you will all feel much better climbing back into the car.

Baby Travel

When traveling with a baby, instead of taking a diaper bag, put your baby´s diapers, wipes, food and toys in a plastic basket on the floorboard of your car. This way it is much easier to get what is needed while on the road.

Getting There on Time

When you visit friends or family, don´t be definite about your arrival time. You can never predict what may occur on the way and this will prevent that cry of "But we told them we´d be there by three!" Remember to stop every two to three hours on longer trips for rest and re-energizing.

Bright and Early

Leave for long trips in the early hours of the morning. The kids will be sleepy and you can begin the trip in a very relaxed state. (Pack up the night before, so all you need to do is get in the car and go.)

For the road

Always keep a towel, wipes, spare diapers a few garbage bags, spare blankie, a bottle of water and some crackers in your trunk. This way, in case of an emergency you´re set!